Skill
Skills in WoTMUD are divided into three broad essential categories generally based on character class with one additional magic-type category available only to characters which can "channel" (the WoT equivalent of magic). Additionally, a further set of skills is available to Trollocs who have been Remorted to Fades. Additional, non-essential crafting skills have been added recently but do not directly impact combat playstyles, general availability of items or combat mechanics. Training or practicing skills requires expending practice points (or "pracs") which are equivalent to skill points or training credits in more contemporary games. A character begins with 8 pracs at level 1, receives 5 additional pracs per level until level 30 (4 per level for Fades, 3 per level for Trollocs), and then 2 levels thereafter to the maximum level of 51 (a maximum of 195 pracs for humans, 166 for fades, or 137 for trollocs). A character of any class can practice any skill of any other class, but practicing outside of class is more difficult as it requires more practices to train skills outside of a character's own class. Class Skills The basic in-game classes are Warrior, Hunter and Rogue (formerly Warrior, Ranger and Thief). All three races - Humans, Seanchan and Trollocs - can create characters of any of the three basic classes. An additional basic class available to humans only is the Channeler class, within which there are drastic differences between male channelers (called "mc"s) and female channelers (called "fc"s) though they both share the same basic magic skills, called "weaves" in-game. An additional Race is available to Trollocs who are Remorted into Fades, with a corresponding set of specific skills. Warrior Warriors are the heavy-hitting, overtly offensive characters in game. They receive stat bonuses to strength and constitution, two characteristics which favor bashing, charging and abs playstyles. They also receive a minus to dexterity which tends to prevent them from being dodgy or stabby, though dodgy warriors are not unheard of and a very few warriors have been seen to stab. Warrior skills cost only 1 prac per session for warriors, while hunter skills cost 2 prac per session, and rogue skills cost warriors 3 pracs per session. This arrangement also tends to push warriors to focus on skills such as bash, charge and kick and avoid learning skills such as hide, sneak or backstab. Hunter Hunters are the independent, self-reliant sort of characters which have an easy time developing proficiency in navigation, survival and tracking type skills. Depending on stats a hunter can choose to go abs, dodge or combo and span the range of offensive playstyles from stab to bash to charge as well. Hunters with particularly well-balanced stats have been known to train and play one way only to later reset their pracs and train and play a completely opposite style. This is possible mainly because hunters have the only balanced practice equations in the game. Hunter skills cost hunters 1 prac per training session while warrior and rogue skills both cost 2 pracs per session. Rogue Rogues are the sneaky, slightly villainous characters of the world and this is heavily reflected in their skill sets. The skills required to burgle, ambush, assassinate, bypass security, etc. are all in the rogue's domain. This class is unique in that a rogue who is content with sticking strictly to class-related gameplay can spend every prac at his own trainer thereby achieving a uniquely high level of proficiency in a wide range of skills, whereas a hunter or warrior must spend at least a few pracs at other trainers despite the out-of-class penalties associated with such training. Though shield parry, ride and survival are skills which are viewed by most as essential (not to mention notice and search), a rogue who is willing to opt out of these skills can become a master pickpocket, burglar and ambusher without them nonetheless. This is possible because the rogue is the only class which includes both offensive and defensive skills (short blades and dodge) in addition to their own class-essential skills. Channeling Channelers face a unique situation when it comes to use of pracs and skills in general. Gameplay is radically different between male and female channelers due to some of the basic storyline premises in the Wheel of Time series. Though gameplay and roleplay elements vary tremendously because of the fundamentals of the Wheel of Time books (this difference is a driving fundamental to the plot and story) mechanically speaking channeling as a male or female is a similar experience and pracs are used in much the same way. Unlike the other classes channelers have two prac pools, one for normal skills which increases at the same rate as a non-channeling character's and a separate one for channeling-related skills trainable only by channelers. Whereas the normal character classes face prac handicaps based on how far a skill type is from their own class, channelers are prac handicapped in every area. Female channelers require 4 pracs for a warrior training session, 2 pracs for hunter training and 3 pracs for thief training and males require 3 pracs for warrior, 2 for hunter and 3 for rogue. Males have a slight advantage in warrior training but this is massively offset by the large number of minuses males face in gameplay. These things guarantee that while any channeler can learn any skill a normal player can, they can never become as well skilled or as diverse in their skills as a warrior, hunter or thief, forcing them to rely increasingly on their channeling skills the farther they progress. The channeling prac pool advances in parallel with the mundane prac pool, but at a different rate. Mc's and fc's progress at the same rate in this area, though their skill trainer mobs are different. Channeling proficiency is broken into two areas: elemental knowledge and weaves. Each weave requires proficiency handling the elemental forces used in that weave which presents an interesting set of choices for channelers over the course of their training as they can specialize in high-level weaves which focus on a core group of elementals while sacrificing proficiency in other areas, or they can diversify their elemental and weave knowledge while sacrificing access to higher-tier weaves. Myrddraal Skills Category:Content Category:Skills